


Amortentia

by doxian



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Crossover, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Gift Exchange, M/M, Magic, Misunderstandings, Post - Deathly Hallows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-16 23:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2288603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doxian/pseuds/doxian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagisa frowns at Rei’s retreating back and wonders what about him makes it so impossible for Rei to like him--even after having the world’s most powerful infatuation potion dumped on him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amortentia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [owlinaminor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlinaminor/gifts).



> _I basically want a cute, fluffy fic about Nagisa and Rei, the two clueless Hufflepuffs who fall for each other and then are too idiotic to ask each other out. (Or, well, they don't have to be Hufflepuffs, that's just how I headcanon them.) (Makoto, Rin, Kou, and even Haru helping them realize their feelings would be much appreciated, though not necessarily required.)_

Tuesday should be Nagisa’s least favourite school day of the week.

His schedule is packed, he has no study halls (read: sessions for screwing around in the library pretending to work), there's divination after lunch, which means he has to leave the great hall with ten minutes to spare so he can make it all the way to the opposite end of the castle and up the tower in time, which means less time to _eat_ , ugh. And the cherry on top is that he starts his day with his worst subject of all time--potions.

But he usually falls asleep on Monday nights with anticipation in his chest: potions is one of the classes that Slytherin shares with Ravenclaw, which means for the last few years his potions partner has been Rei. And Rei makes everything better.

It figures that potions is one of Rei’s favourite classes, right up there along with arithmancy (which Nagisa had opted out of in favour of divination because, oh god, _boring_ , and not even Rei’s passionate tirades on the beauty of numerical magic can convince him otherwise). Nagisa, on the other hand, has trouble with every single aspect of the subject--the precision required when preparing the ingredients, patiently waiting for the hours or days or _weeks_ for the mixture to brew and remembering when to check on it, following the detailed recipes where getting a single quantity wrong can result in disaster. Throughout the time he's been partnered up with Rei, he's made mistakes that have ended in bright pink and green explosions that tasted like pomegranates; concoctions that burned holes right through the cauldron and the bench and even ate into the floor below; and clouds of gross-coloured and foul-smelling gases that gave you skin like a toad for a good few hours if you inhaled it. (Nagisa was sure Rei’s shriek could be heard from the bottom of the Great Lake after that particular setback.) 

And that was just over their sixth year. If it had been anyone else, Nagisa would have expected them to have requested a different partner by now, after running away from him while screaming, but not Rei. Rei enjoyed his company way too much, Nagisa knew that.

This morning, Nagisa bursts in through the classroom door just as the class bell rings, slamming his bag down on the bench, pulling out the tall lab stool and scraping it noisily against the floor so he can perch on it.

Professor Sunsong sweeps in mere seconds later, and Nagisa tries to catch his breath without looking like he'd just ran up three flights of stairs and down the hall. He mentally thanks her for how reliably on time she always is--ever since they've had her as a potions teacher, she's never been even a minute early. 

He hears a fussy sniff on his left.

"Nagisa-kun," Rei says, pushing his glasses up his nose, "you should really make an effort to manage your sleep better. Teenagers need at least nine hours of sleep every night, it's important for our growth."

"Morning, Rei-chan!" Nagisa says brightly, smiling up at him. "What are you talking about? I get plenty of sleep."

Rei looks pointedly at Nagisa's chest.

"Your robe appears to be inside-out," Rei says.

Nagisa shouts in surprise. 

Which is why Nagisa misses most of Professor Sunsong's introduction to the lesson ("Ehh? Is it? That must be why it feels so weird!") and so does Rei ("Nagisa-kun! Being sleep-deprived during the week and then sleeping in until 2pm every weekend isn't the same as a healthy, regular sleep schedule. It would be more beneficial to go to sleep at a proper time every night. Consequently, you would be able to avoid waking up exactly 15 minutes before class and rushing here--")

Nagisa finishes turning his robe back inside-in just in time to see the petite, curly-haired potions mistress set out several colourful vials on the counter in front of her. It's kind of exciting. The chapter that they're covering this week had actually aroused his curiosity--potions of compulsion, recipes designed to influence a person's behaviour whether directly or indirectly, and many of which were banned from regular use, just like the Unforgivable Curses. Professor Sunsong is quite a bit more hands-on than most potions masters, but even so, Nagisa never would have expected that she'd bring the actual potions in to class. 

Rei is industriously taking notes, quill scratching across his parchment, as Nagisa twirls his own quill thoughtfully. 

He perks up when, finally, the professor's lecture is over and she announces, "Okay! Time to get up close and personal with these _dangerous_ draughts. Gear up and then carefully, _carefully_ handle and smell the potions. Oh, except for that one, Abercrombie, don't touch that, it'll send you right to the hospital wing--" 

The entire class, including Nagisa, surges forward to pick up goggles and latex gloves from the pile next to the array of potions. Nagisa cheers triumphantly when he re-emerges from the chaotic gaggle of students, safety gear in hand, and makes a beeline for the bottle that had piqued his interest most--amortentia, its bottle an appropriate eye-searing magenta. 

 Two of his fellow Slytherins, Kou and Chigusa, are having a noisy discussion on his right. Kou seems to be asserting that the potion doesn’t smell like anything. He sidles in while they’re busy arguing and grabs the small, pink bottle, pulling the stopper out and inhaling, wafting his hand over the mouth of the bottle and under his nose instead of putting his nose to the bottle's opening directly, like Professor Sunsong had showed them earlier.

Rei is right behind him, complaining about Nagisa running in the classroom when there are dangerous potions about, but Nagisa ignores him in favour of breathing in the absolutely _delicious_ aroma pouring forth from the bottle. It smells like baking, and seaspray, and... what seems to be very crisp, clean laundry detergent, a specific variety he must have either used himself or smelt somewhere, because the scent is very familiar...

"--really have to be more careful, what if you had spilled something--"

"Rei-chan, here, tell me what this smells like to you!"   Nagisa turns around to hand the vial to him, but Rei puts out a hand at the same time to take it, or to steady Nagisa’s hands, or _something_ \--whatever it is, their hands bump together clumsily and Nagisa’s breath gets stuck in his throat as he watches, almost in slow motion, as a few paltry drops of opalescent liquid drip from the vial and splatter onto Rei’s fingers.   

Rei’s expression probably mirrors his--wide-eyed, horrified. They both look down at the glittering drops on Rei’s hand.  

Amortentia needs to be drunk to work properly, even Nagisa knows that, he's known it since he was a kid living at home listening to his sisters giggling over it when they were back for the summers. But touching it can cause a less intense reaction that can last for a few hours...

Nothing happens.   

Nagisa has the presence of mind to hurriedly put the bottle back down on the counter before anyone notices anything--Professor Sunsong is currently distracted by a small riot that seems to have broken out over the tiny container of felix felicis in one corner--he doesn’t even want to think about the trouble they’d be in if she had seen what had happened. 

Rei fishes out a tissue from somewhere and scrubs at his hand until it’s clean.  

"Rei-chan," Nagisa says, watching Rei anxiously, "are you okay?"

  "I… I think so," Rei says, swallowing, still looking at his hands. "I… don’t feel any different."  

He doesn’t look any different. No glimmer of complete and fanatical obsession in his eyes, no spontaneously bursting into romantic ballads, no falling to Nagisa’s feet and declaring his undying love. He continues to look and act like the usual Rei after they’d finished looking through the potions and returned to their bench, and after class ends and Rei says he's off to history of magic now, see you later Nagisa-kun.   

Nagisa frowns at Rei’s retreating back and wonders what about him makes it so impossible for Rei to like him--even after having the world’s most powerful infatuation potion dumped on him.  

\--

Rei knows something's up when he runs into Nagisa in the library a couple of days later. Nagisa _never_ goes to the library--at least not voluntarily; not when they don't have a history of magic assignment due. (And Rei _knows_ there's no history of magic assignment due.) 

His suspicions deepen when, instead of pulling him into an overly familiar hug, stealing his glasses or any other object on Rei's person that would make Rei exclaim in irritation and chase after him, or, well, generally _hanging all over him_ , Nagisa looks almost shifty when he catches sight of him. He quickly recovers and shoots Rei a cheerful, if somewhat subdued, smile.

"Oh! Hi, Rei-chan. Are you here to study?" 

Rei is indeed here to study, but he's too weirded out to answer at first; he and Nagisa have been occupying the same space for almost a minute now and Nagisa still isn't touching him. 

He'd begun to think Nagisa had been avoiding him. In Nagisa's case, that didn't mean not speaking to Rei at all, because Nagisa always seems to be everywhere talking to everyone _all the time_ , it meant making less concerted efforts to look for him. Since Tuesday, Nagisa hadn't "coincidentally" bumped into him on the way to arithmancy class when Nagisa has no classes on his schedule that are in that wing of the castle, or sent him an embarrassing owl for absolutely no reason, or forcibly slid himself in between Rei and Sera at Ravenclaw's table in the Great Hall despite not even being a part of his house. 

"Yes," Rei says, finally. "What about you, Nagisa-kun? I don't think I've ever seen you here before." He blinks, adjusts his glasses, suddenly smiles encouragingly. "It's great that you're applying yourself more to your studies!" 

"Uh, haha, yeah," Nagisa laughs weakly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. He changes the subject abruptly. "Hey, didn't you find that really strange in potions class? When amortentia spilled on you and nothing happened?" 

"You mean when _you_ spilled it on me," Rei says, primly, fiddling with his glasses again. The truth was that he'd run off to research possible causes for his lack of reaction right after classes got out. First, he had thought that it was a faulty batch of potion, but while Professor Sunsong's teaching methods were questionable at times, her recipes were always perfect. Then he wondered if it was because he was actually asexual, or didn't fall in love with people. (He couldn't recall having fallen in love with anyone up until this point, really. Romance was such an illogical waste of time.) However, if that had been the case then he either wouldn't have smelled anything when he had sniffed the potion after the spilling incident, or he might have been lucky enough to smell what amortentia's true fragrance was. 

No, the real answer is much more straightforward than that.

He looks at the giant stack of books Nagisa has balanced precariously on the table in front of him. One of the ponderous tomes displays the title "Cauldron Catastrophes of the 19th Century" along its spine. 

"Nagisa-kun," Rei says gently, "don't you think those books are a little too... obscure for this question?"

"What?" says Nagisa, in the middle of flipping through the book in front of him so vigorously that the pages are bound to be wrinkled afterwards. He stops what he's doing at Rei's words.

"Rei-chan! Could it be that you already know why it happened?" Nagisa leans forward over the table, looking at Rei intently. 

"Of course!" Rei declares, swishing his cape with a flourish. (It's not entirely cold enough for capes just yet, but Rei finds it adds a certain drama to his school uniform that he really rather enjoys.) "It's actually very simple, you see." 

He pauses. It's simple, sure, but explaining it directly just like that, to Nagisa of all people, is actually kind of embarrassing. "Ah, if you're already in love with someone, the potion doesn't work." 

"Oh," says Nagisa. Is it Rei's imagination, or does he look a little crestfallen? 

"Oh!" he says again, more energetically this time. "So Rei-chan already has someone you love? That's great!" 

"I... that is..." 

It's the only logical explanation. After eliminating all the other possibilities that had a less-than-10% chance of being true, that was the only one left. 

The only problem with his conclusion is that he has no idea who it is that he's apparently in love with. 

Nagisa nods to himself.

"That makes sense," he says. "The power of true love, is it? How romantic!" 

"Yeah..." Rei says, cheeks reddening. He's just relieved that Nagisa isn't grilling him about who it is.

...which he might start doing if Rei hangs around any longer.

"Well, Nagisa-kun, glad to have helped," he says hastily, and makes to set off towards the section of the library he needs, but Nagisa calls after him. Rei freezes.

"Wait, Rei-chan! You never told me what the amortentia smelled like when you finally got a chance to check it out."

"New books and... cream bread," mutters Rei.

  ”Huh?” asks Nagisa.  

"The cream bread that's served at the Great Hall sometimes,” says Rei again. His face is _definitely_ red now. Why is he confessing this to Nagisa? Who knows what he'd do with this sensitive information?

”Ehh?” Nagisa says, confused. “But you don't even like that bread." 

  "You're right. I don't," agrees Rei, before hurrying off.  

\-- 

Nagisa continues to behave somewhat strangely all the way up until that weekend, when he doesn't even make an attempt to rope Rei into making the trip to Hogsmeade with him and a few of their other friends. In the end, it's Kou who invites him. 

But when Rei says goodbye to everyone early, intending to head back to the castle and get started on a paper he's already behind schedule on, Nagisa unexpectedly makes up some excuse so he can leave with him.

It's a relief, to have Nagisa falling in step beside him. Things between them have reached a point where Rei honestly feels that he needs to say something to Nagisa--but _what_ , he's not sure yet. "Why have you not bothered me as much lately" doesn't seem like an especially specific or useful question to ask.

Barely anyone is in the sixth floor Ravenclaw dorms when they return. The few students who aren't at Hogsmeade are in the common room, where Rei and Nagisa would be right now if Nagisa hadn't pestered Rei into lending him his barely-used 3DS, a gift from an aunt he wasn't particularly close to and who didn't know that Rei never played video games. Even after all this time, Rei thought it was endearing--Nagisa's powerful fascination with all things Muggle and mundane. A Muggle-born, he thought he was excited enough to come to Hogwarts, to find out he was a _wizard_ , after he had gotten over the initial unbelievability of it all, but that didn't hold a candle to Nagisa's excitement at making proper friends with someone from the Muggle world for the first time.

They end up on Rei's bed--Nagisa sprawled at the end with his legs hanging off the side, busily playing Pokemon X with the sound turned down low, and Rei sitting with his back against the headboard, one book in his lap and the rest all around him, highlighter and pencil stub and coloured Post It labels at the ready. 

They pass the time in companionable silence for a while, until--

"Nagisa-kun, I've been meaning to ask why--"

"Rei-chan, about that person you like--"

Nagisa looks up from his paused game; Rei looks up from his book. He hasn't turned the page since he'd first opened it.

"You first, Rei-chan," Nagisa says softly, sitting up after placing the console on the floor next to the bed. (Rei will have to remember not to accidentally step on it later.)

Rei clears his throat and sits up a little straighter.

"I... noticed that I've been... seeing less of you lately," he starts awkwardly. "It probably sounds odd to say it like that. But I was wondering if anything was wrong, and, if so, how the situation can be rectified." 

Nagisa laughs.

"That has to do with my question, too," he says, eyes shining. He takes a breath to steady himself, much like how Rei had cleared his throat. "Whoever it is, you should definitely pursue them and confess your feelings! You've said you'd make a good boyfriend, and I think you would, you definitely would."

He takes another deep breath.

"Nagisa?"

"But, I... don't want that," he continues. His voice is definitely unsteady, now. "I think you should go out with the person you like... but I don't want you to."

"H-hold on," Rei stammers, "you're moving a little fast, I don't even know who I'm supposed to--"

 Rei stutters to a halt. Nagisa has tears in his eyes. He's not outright sobbing yet, but tears are very clearly happening here, gathering at the corners of his eyes. Eventually they start to dribble down his cheeks, leaving trails in the light dusting of dirt still on his face.

  Nagisa doesn’t cry pretty like they do in the movies. He sniffs noisily, the kind of sniff that clearly indicates that the sniffer’s nose is full of mucus and that they should really be blowing it instead of sniffing. When Nagisa notices Rei looking at him he quickly rubs the tears away with his hands, probably so that Rei won’t see, but all that does is mix it with the dirt, leaving grey smears across his cheeks.   It’s not beautiful at all. In spite of that, Rei finds himself leaning forward, resting a hand on Nagisa's shoulder as comfortingly as he can.  

"I," Nagisa begins again, but his voice cracks and he takes another long, wet sniff, "It’s just, a little depressing and lonely, for me, that you have someone." He wipes his face with his sleeve and shoots Rei a watery, apologetic smile. "Sorry, Rei-chan. I’m being selfish. I'm a really bad friend.”  

Rei is surprised in a vague and distant way that it has taken this long for his big moment of realization to occur. Countless moments flash through his mind that would have been just as apropos. Watching Nagisa lick the the Butterbeer moustache off his top lip before invading Rei’s personal space, leaning into him and getting way too close, enthusiastically pushing his second glass of the warm, rich beverage into his face and insisting that he have a drink, despite Rei declining his past ten or so offers--that could have worked, and that was mere hours ago.  

But, no, instead the realization that _it’s Nagisa, he’s in love with Nagisa_ comes when he scarcely has time to think about what he’s doing before he’s reacting. The only upside is that the first realization is followed very quickly by the second--that _Nagisa likes him back_.   

Rei reaches out towards him, taking both Nagisa’s hands in his and pulling them away from Nagisa’s face, shuffling forwards on the bed. His lips are on Nagisa’s lips before his brain has a chance to catch up with his body--which is probably a good thing because it means he doesn’t have time for nerves--and for an instant all he can focus on is the faint taste of Butterbeer combined with the strawberry candy Nagisa had bought at Honeydukes, the gentle pressure of Nagisa’s mouth, Nagisa letting out the tiniest sigh against him.  

He pulls away. Nagisa’s tears are on his cheeks. His heart is pattering in his chest and he feels all floaty and light-headed--like he might actually float away, over his bed and above the school's tallest tower and off into the stratosphere, if he isn’t careful. Their lips had touched for barely a few seconds, if that, his reaction seems to be highly over the top for such a simple, chaste gesture, and--

 He had kissed Nagisa. More importantly, he had kissed Nagisa without having the faintest idea how to kiss. Had it been any good? He had no idea. He couldn’t draw any conclusions if he had no data to work with; to judge his performance against. 

  Nagisa is flushed, the colour spreading pink and pretty across his cheekbones, blinking rapidly like he’d just woken from a dream.

  "I’m sorry!” Rei blurts.  

"Rei-chan?” Nagisa asks, voice shaky. His mouth is almost as pink as his cheeks, his blissful expression quickly giving way to one of uncertainty as Rei babbles inarticulately.   

"I mean--I’m not sorry for kissing you, but the theory--I haven’t studied any of the theory behind kissing! A-and one’s first kiss should be special… not that I’m making the assumption that you’ve never kissed anyone else, I just mean between us--”  

"Oh, Rei-chan,” Nagisa says again, this time sounding happily admonishing rather than uncertain, and he leans forward himself, flinging his arms haphazardly around Rei’s neck and bringing their lips together again, so enthusiastically that their foreheads almost smack together.  

Rei’s heart is still beating as fast as a hummingbird’s wings, but the kiss is different, this time--easier, even though it’s more intense. Maybe it’s because Nagisa is driving it, now.   Even though he still has no idea what he’s doing, he falls into a kind of rhythm, following Nagisa’s lead, pressing their mouths together again and again. He tries to keep a running mental log, quantify what’s happening-- _press, breathe, move closer, head tilt, press_ \--but it’s no use. Then Nagisa opens his mouth and suddenly everything is wetter, warmer. Nagisa’s tongue slides against his, slow and indulgent, and Rei whimpers into Nagisa’s mouth and--shit, he’s already hard, he’s so hard just from exchanging messy kisses with the boy he’d befriended his first day at the castle, as soon as he’s stepped off the boats, back when they were tiny and clueless and drowning in their robes.

Soon Nagisa is in his lap, pushing his fingers into Rei’s hair and rubbing along his scalp and the back of his neck, and Rei has his hands at Nagisa’s waist, sliding one hand up Nagisa’s shirt and along the smooth skin of his back.

"Rei-chan," Nagisa says, soft and coy and flirtatious, "why didn't you say anything?"

The feeling of Nagisa's mouth brushing against Rei's as he speaks is terribly distracting. 

"I didn't know! Not until now... why didn't you?" answers Rei, turning the question back on him.

"I didn't know either," Nagisa laughs breathlessly, helplessly, "not until I spilled the potion on you! Rei-chan, at first I thought you secretly disliked me so much that even amortentia couldn't influence you with fake infatuation feelings..."

Nagisa has maneuvered them so that they're both laying down, Nagisa on top of Rei and in between Rei's legs, rolling his hips lazily in a way that makes Rei dig his fingers sharply into the other boy's hips. 

"But it turned out to be just the opposite," Rei gasps out. He holds Nagisa's hips still and rests one hand on Nagisa's cheek, looking seriously into Nagisa's eyes, because he at least has to get this part right. "I... really like you, Nagisa-kun."

Nagisa's smile is wide and completely infectious as he dives back in to kiss Rei again.

"I really like you too, Rei-chan!" 

\--

  Nagisa wakes up with a jerk. He can hear Rei muttering something under his breath, but that's not what woke him--it sounds like the rest of the students are back, talking loudly and fumbling about, some retrieving towels and toothbrushes.

"No one will notice us now," says Rei, nudging his wand back onto his nightstand. "That is, if we don’t move around too much, so be careful.” 

Nagisa peeks out from under the bedsheets at the other students. He does feel a difference in the air around them, and the other students do seem to be distinctly unaware of Rei’s bed and the general area around it--even Sera, whose bed is right next to Rei’s and who would have easily noticed that there were two people in Rei’s bed, not one. 

  "Whoa!" Nagisa says, shuffling underneath the blanket again to face Rei. “Impressive. Just as expected from Rei-chan."   

"Naturally," Rei says happily, preening, choosing to ignore the fact that this was a standard charm from their textbook that any other sixth year would have known, and that this meant Nagisa probably hadn’t been paying attention when it was taught. "I do make a concerted effort to have a practical spell applicable to any occasion."   

"Even occasions like making sure nobody notices that your boyfriend sneaked into Ravenclaw tower?" Nagisa says, slyly. And then: "Rei-chan! This does mean that we’re boyfriends, right? _Right_?"

  Rei is silent.  

"Rei-chan?” Nagisa asks again, tentatively.

  "I haven’t taken you on a date yet!" Rei blurts out.   Nagisa laughs, as much as he can after pushing his face into Rei’s chest to muffle the sound. Rei is so silly, and so wonderful, and Rei _likes him_. They are totally dating. Nagisa is so happy that he can’t keep still, squirming and ecstatically kicking his legs under the blankets even as Rei reprimands him for fidgeting.  

"Rei," he said, looking up at him, "we’ve gone on plenty of dates! We hang out all the time. Even today was kind of a date."

Rei looks back at him, face comically distorted in what Nagisa can only assume is horror.  

"Today?" Rei thinks about Rin goading Haruka into pointless competitions, Makoto restraining Haruka from flinging off his clothes and jumping into the fountain, the jovial and bustling cacophony of the Three Broomsticks. "There’s nothing romantic about going to Hogsmeade with friends. It wasn’t beautiful at all!"   

Nagisa smiles at him, putting his face so close to Rei’s face that he can very clearly see the emerging faint case of acne on the other boy's forehead. Rei probably wouldn’t think _that_ was beautiful, either. 

  "So take me on a proper date, then," Nagisa says. "Tomorrow. A really romantic one."   

"Tomorrow?" Rei exclaims. "B-but, I won't have enough time to prepare..."

"We can be spontaneous!" As if to illustrate his point, Nagisa gives in to temptation and slides his mouth over Rei's again.

They exchange slow, lazy kisses for a while, legs tangled together and arms wound tightly around each other, until the other students' sounds swell to such a din that it becomes impossible to ignore.

"Hey, Rei-chan, do you have a spell that will make me unnoticeable while I go back to Slytherin?"

Rei didn't. 

"Aw, looks like I'll just have to stay here tonight then!" Nagisa cuddles up against Rei's chest. 

"You can't do that," Rei says, affronted. "It has to be past curfew by now! I'm a prefect, I must set a good example, I can't break the inter-dorming rules just because I feel like it. Wait a while for everyone to settle down and then you can sneak back out. And I can get ready for bed."

They fall asleep again after making out as passionately as their situation allowed, but when Nagisa crawls out of his bed at the crack of dawn, giving Rei a goodbye kiss before he darts off back to his dorm to change for the day, Rei thinks to himself that a mite of rule-breaking is probably worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> i also made a [post about headcanons i came up with for this AU that i never used](http://therealdoxian.tumblr.com/post/101092816233). oh welp.


End file.
